The visiting Redwings, No. 1 in the Daily Herald rankings, improved to 22-4 with a 51-39 nonconference win in a tough crowd in West Chicago, including fans in a chicken suit and a maroon Morphman costume.

This is a tough environment to play in, said Benet coach Gene Heidkamp. I think thats something that makes the game even more appealing. Its a gut check for our kids to have a crowd on them. Weve played in a ton of those games so far, but another one certainly doesnt hurt, especially before the state tournament.

Wheaton Academy (18-6) executed its point of emphasis  get a handle on Benets 6-foot-9 center Sean OMara, restraining the big junior to 12 points and 8 rebounds.

Definitely a win-win for both teams. They won the game, but we got a lot better from this game, said Wheaton Academy senior guard Collin Roy, who scored a game-high 18 points.

But outside the double-teams applied by Wheaton Academys 6-8 Gordon Behr and whoever else could hassle OMara, Rob Haemmerle came off Benets bench hot for four 3s and a team-high 13 points. Seventh man Colin Bonnett hit two 3s and do-it-all senior forward Pat McInerney scored 10 points with 11 rebounds. The Redwings made 18 of 36 shots, 9 of 16 from the arc and defensively forced 29 percent shooting.

They had to help a lot on Sean and that opened up a lot of blast screens and stagger screens and I just had to come off those screens and got wide-open shots because my teammates set great screens, delivered the ball on time and it just worked in our favor, Haemmerle said.

A fast first quarter by Behr, 8 of his 14 points  Hes a pretty good player, McInerney said  was undone by a 10-0 Benet run capped by a 3 from Haemmerle, just in the game.

Our main goal was to stop OMara and let the other guys make shots. They didnt miss a shot tonight. It was ridiculous, Roy said.

Benet led 26-15 at halftime but Wheaton Academy cut Benets lead to 37-28 entering the fourth. The Redwings started the fourth on a 12-0 run  3s by Haemmerle, Jack Euritt and Bonnett and Jack Toners inbounds pass setting up a McInerney three-point play. Roys 11 fourth-quarter points werent enough.

Unfortunately we didnt shoot the ball well tonight, said Warriors coach Paul Ferguson. But defensively we got better tonight. We were able to execute our game plan defensively pretty well, and Im excited about that as we head to the state tournament.